


Reservations

by Musetotheworld



Series: Tumblr Prompt Fills [10]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Cat's ex is back in town, F/F, Pre-Relationship, jealous!Kara
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-07
Updated: 2017-02-07
Packaged: 2018-09-22 13:50:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9610175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Musetotheworld/pseuds/Musetotheworld
Summary: Cat's ex shows up in National City and wants a chance to talk. Enter protective Kara to save the day.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Supercat. Kara realises her feelings for Cat when Cat's beautiful ex girlfriend visits National City for a few days and she can't quite hide her jealousy

"I'm sorry, do you have an appointment?" This isn't the first time that Kara has had to face down someone determined to make it into Cat's office, but something is different about the woman in front of her. There's a confidence to her step, an unconscious ease that few carry with them when facing Cat Grant.

"I'm afraid I don't, but Cat always said I'd be welcome to drop by," the mystery woman says with a smile and wink, not bothering to hide a searching glance up and down Kara's figure. "If I'd known she'd finally hired someone decent, I might have stopped by sooner."

"Sarah, stop bothering my assistant," Cat says from the door of her office, her approach somehow going unnoticed by either woman. "You know good and well that your invitation was  _not_  for CatCo during business hours."

The name is familiar, and Kara quickly manages to put the pieces together. She'd arranged reservations for Cat and this woman on a few occasions during her first year at CatCo, and had always assumed she was an old friend or business colleague. She'd never seen a hint otherwise in the papers or Cat's directions, but from the way the two are staring at each other now, there's more than just friendship in their history.

"Well I'm here now anyway, so surely you have a minute to spare?" Sarah says with a grin, repeating the once over she'd given Kara on Cat. "For old time’s sake?"

The way Cat's eyes narrow, Kara is expecting to be instructed to call security instead, so she's thrown when Cat steps back and waves Sarah into her office instead. "Reschedule whatever my next meeting is and have James look at the spreads before they come to me, this may take a while," Cat tells Kara before closing the door to her office.

It only takes a minute to accomplish that, the meeting is with a board member that's only too glad to get a reprieve on facing Cat alone, and James is well used to Cat delegating this particular task when something comes up. And with no meeting to take notes for and Cat closed off in her office, Kara is left with nothing to do.

Normally she'd use the time to catch up on work she's let slide while off on Supergirl duty, but things have been calm enough that there's not much to do. She could take a quick lap of the city to look for trouble, but something keeps Kara in her seat, occasionally shooting glances into the office as she tries to look busy.

"You know, if you stare any harder your laser eyes might kick in," Winn whispers from his desk after a few minutes, and Kara jumps. She'd thought she was being discreet. "Just listen in, if it's that big a deal."

She shouldn't, it's obviously a private conversation, but as soon as Winn reminds her that she can her hearing is engaging without another thought. She feels guilty as soon as she hears the first hints of their voices, but not enough to stop just yet.

"Is it so hard to believe I'm in town for business and thought of you? No ulterior motive beyond catching up?" Sarah sounds almost pleading, and Kara fights the urge to stare and give herself away.

"Considering how we left things, yes," Cat says, voice sharp as Kara hears her shift in her chair. The fact that Cat has them speaking across the desk soothes some nerve in Kara's chest, one that she tries not to think about. "You're the one that left, after all. What was it you said? _'_ _Long distance doesn't work when you're dating a workaholic bitch_ _'_ wasn't it?"

"Oh come on, Cat! I was hurt. You wouldn't even  _consider_  working remotely, and I had a great opportunity in front of me." Sarah sounds genuinely apologetic, but after hearing what she'd said to Cat there's no redeeming quality Kara can find in her. It explains why Cat had been so bitter and difficult for a week solid.

"My company is here, Sarah. I told you that. You couldn't accept that then, what's changed now? Because I don't believe for a second that you've returned just to catch up." Kara's guilt is starting to grow with each second she listens, but she can't seem to pull her focus away even though this is undeniably private.

"I miss you. I reacted badly, and I wanted to see you again. My work is mobile now, I'll be passing through National City a few times a month. I thought we could get dinner, at least try to clear the air." Kara bristles, she can't help it. This woman had hurt Cat, hurt her badly if the still present note of pain beneath her words is anything to go by, and now she wants Cat to just forgive her? Kara is usually very good at finding the best in people, but this time there's no denying her instinctive dislike.

“Fine, dinner then. Make the arrangements with my assistant. Keira is very good at getting tables on short notice.” Kara tries not to wince at being asked to help with this mess, but from the way Winn is looking at her she doesn’t quite manage.

She _is_ able to get her reaction under control by the time Sarah makes it back to her desk, looking up with a bland and professional smile despite the anger and distaste coiling in her chest.  She can be better than this woman she barely knows.

“Hey, Cat said to see you about getting reservations somewhere tonight,” Sarah says with a smile. “I was hoping you knew somewhere with a little romance in the air, you know? Nothing major, just enough to set a mood.”

Kara hopes her flinch is too quick to be noticed, but she knows Winn at least catches it when he shoots her a worried look. But she’s fine. She can do this.

“Romantic might be hard with it being February,” Kara says as she consults her planner page of restaurants that are willing to work with her on short notice. She sees at least five on the page that would fit the description, but pretends to scan it in disappointment. “Most of these are places Miss Grant chooses for business meetings, but Overlook might be close enough.”

It’s not, while it’s one of Cat’s favorite restaurants it’s the opposite of romantic. Brightly lit and open, there’s no sense of privacy or intimacy to the tables. It’s somewhere Cat chooses for dinners where there’s nothing to be discussed and no one to impress. Casual dining, never anything important.

“That sounds perfect, thank you. Here’s my number, let me know the address and what time I should meet her there.” Sarah hands Kara a card before leaving, tossing a wave and grin over her shoulder at Cat through the glass walls of her office.

The display leaves Kara seething again, barely able to pick up her phone without breaking it in her hand. Thankfully the welcome normalcy of exchanging promises and favors to get a table manages to calm her frustrations, enough so that when Cat calls her in for an update on her evening Kara is able to answer the questions calmly and without giving herself away. Still, she’s thankful when Cat dismisses her, sending her home for the night with a careless wave of her hand. She really needs to find a mugging or three to stop, or an alien to capture. Maybe Alex will spar with her. Kara doesn’t much care which it is, she just needs to punch something.

X

Cat takes her latte without a word the next morning, and that seems to set the tone for the day. She doesn’t say anything to Kara, not even to give her a list of duties and tasks to accomplish. If not for the searching looks Kara notices every now and then she’d think Cat was furious about something.

Even though she’s pretty sure Cat isn’t actually angry, Kara is careful to be the perfect employee for the day. She doesn’t slip out to make rounds of the city, she tells Alex she needs a calm day without DEO duty, and she throws herself completely into her work to avoid giving Cat any reason to be upset with her.

That’s how the evening finds her still working, refusing to leave before Cat does. It’s late enough that the sun is setting on the horizon and everyone else has already left, but Kara just keeps working, finding new things to focus on as she tries to seem busy. She’s resorted to reorganizing her files into alphabetical order by date and type before Cat breaks the silence and calls her into the office.

“You made reservations at Overlook,” Cat says once they’ve settled opposite each other on the sofas, her gaze piercing as Kara tries to avoid it. But there’s no avoiding the question, so Kara nods, remaining silent until she better understands what’s going on. “Of all the restaurants you could have chosen, you picked the one least suitable for a private discussion.”

“It’s February, so many other restaurants were booked,” Kara protests weakly, unsurprised when Cat glares at her with a warning shake of her head.

“You’re a terrible liar Keira. Sarah told me you suggested it practically before she made it to your desk. That tells me it was deliberate, and I want to know why.” Cat has her pinned in place with a searching look, the one that tells Kara she isn’t getting out of this without answering.

“She hurt you,” comes the explanation, bursting out from Kara without a thought. She realizes once she’d said it that it gives more than just her feelings about the situation away, because there is no way Kara could have known that fact without having heard a conversation held out of earshot. It’s the Dirk situation all over again, and this time Kara knows she’s not getting out of it.

“Jealousy then,” Cat says, skating over the other accidental admission with nothing more than a sharp glance that tells Kara they’ll be coming back to it later. “At least you picked a decent restaurant for your power play.”

Kara wants to protest that she wasn’t jealous, that she was just being protective, but she finds that the words feel like a lie. She was jealous, that anger and distaste had a base of envy that Kara is only now confronting. Now Cat has pointed it out, and Kara can’t ignore it any longer.

“She hurt you once, I didn’t want her to have a chance to do it again,” Kara says in a quiet voice rather than disagreeing, looking down at her clasped hands to avoid the reaction she knows Cat has to be having right now. She supposes having an inappropriate crush isn’t unheard of from an assistant, but she’d gone out of her way to make an evening the complete opposite of what had been intended. That’s grounds for termination from any employer, let alone Cat.

“And I suppose I ought to thank you for that,” Cat says dryly but without a hint of anger, and Kara looks up in surprise. “It’s far harder to tell someone to fuck off and out of your life when the waiters are serving champagne and strawberries, or whatever ridiculous ideas she had in mind.”

That’s so far outside of what Kara had expected that she can feel her mouth drop open slightly in shock as she stares at Cat. Words seem to have deserted her, and for a long moment only silence stretches between them as Cat gives her a knowing look and Kara struggles to get her brain working again.

“I thought you were going to fire me,” Kara admits once she’s found words again, unable to move past that part of her shock.

“Of course not. Where else would I find an assistant willing to completely disregard all sense of propriety in order to look after what I need?” Cat says with a smirk. “And besides, we have far too much to talk about for me to fire you.”

“You promise I’ll be allowed to stay?” Kara asks, voice trembling as she tries to pretend the answer couldn’t wreck her completely. “You won’t make me leave this time?”

“Kara, I don’t want you going anywhere ever again,” Cat says, and Kara nearly breaks down then and there.

They have a lot to discuss, she knows that, but she knows she has a place here. And whatever else happens or comes of this, that’s all she’s ever wanted.


End file.
